7 steps to build a popular blog (and personal brand)

Social media brings the rapid rise of personal brands, most of them are built on top of their blogs. It’s crucial to have a blog worth your reader’s time in order to have consistent readership (i.e. more returning readers + more new readers).

A popular blog can build your personal brand (as an expert in something), bring social and career engagement, awareness to your cause (social or for profit entrepreneurship).

In this post, we will look from a very high level how Venessa Amiemis built up her personal brand through her blog, found her voice heard and create her own prosperous career.

The newest book about sharing economy called “share or die” featured an article by Venessa Amiemis, who earned well above 6 digits at a corporate job when she was only 25 (she is not a programmer so that is a lot harder to do;), discussing where and how she ended up quitting it, going to graduate school, starting a blog called “emergent by design” just to explore where rising technology such as real time social media would take society to: determined to do something that is meaningful to herself all without knowing where exactly she was heading to career wise.

She started the first blog entry on Mar. 2009, wrote two more on April with a long absence till Sept, she continued writing about 4 more articles in sept. and oct., it was not until she started focusing on social media and drawing upon her own in-depth research when hits like “36 Awesome Idea Hubs to Spark Creative Thinking, Innovation, & Inspiration”, “Metathinking manifesto” that she got her first “break”. Incredibly, she kept on writing 10 popular articles in the same month alone, all focusing on social media. Her “brain dump” on “whats really going on on twitter” intensified readers’ interest, comments poured in with 64 total. (My most popular article on this blog has 15 comments, including mine own).

Nov., 2009 was the “make and break” month for Venessa. From then on, her readership skyrocketed, professional/social/career request poured in, her career took off, within a year, she spoke at international social, economic, financial stage, her work was featured on CNN, Forbes, Fast company etc.

Unlike product-building entrepreneurs, I have seen lots of intelligent driven people like Venessa, such as Darya Pino and her summertomato.com thrive through offering insightful, well written, engaging blogs drawn on their own research. I think following is the common grounds between these bloggers who have successfully built their personal brands. Not many people can replicate this, but if you happen to have the drive, passion, go for it, do your own research, write your own book, become your own destiny!

1. Have a genuine or even intense interest in something that people care about
Curiosity is the best transportation from ignorance to knowledge.

2. Write your blog like a fulltime job or research paper: curate your content as if it’s your treasured garden.
Contemplate over what you want to write about, and allocate one hour to write it down, write it well.

3. Keep building lists of “something”
Most people scan through blog posts quickly to see if there is remote interest, a list is quickest way to get people’s attention. There is no right or wrong, just put your rational behind your list and make sense of it.

4. Engage in the discussion when they come
Fortunately, if you’ve got comments, you are half way there. You’ve got their interest, now engage them by retweeting, replying people’s comments, mention, direct message tirelessly. Imagine how happy you are when someone genuinely mention you on twitter? Do that to others.

5. Build an email subscription list
We are all so busy, we may love your blog but soon forget to come back. An email subscription list is a great way to notify what new you have written.

6. Purify your vision
Gradually, you will come to a single vision that you are most passionate about. Purify it. And make a statement of it so people immediately know and associate that with you, or you with that vision.

7. Build your brand
When you have quality content, good discussion, clear vision, it’s time to strike out to build your own brand, amplify it through visualizing your personal brand, go where your audience are.